header-logo header-logo

Arbitration in family cases: another way

26 November 2021 / Hannah Gumbrill-Ward
Issue: 7958 / Categories: Features , Family , ADR , Arbitration
printer mail-detail
Hannah Gumbrill-Ward shares the pros & cons of the use of arbitration in family proceedings
  • The time for arbitration to play a bigger role in family proceedings has come.

Family practitioners (and their clients) are all too aware of the current crisis in the family court. At the Jersey International Family Law Conference last month, President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, concluded his speech by acknowledging that ‘the Family Court is not currently in a good place’ adding that ‘the substantial backlog that existed before the pandemic has now grown very substantially’. The 14% increase in the number of new cases started in the family court during the second quarter of this year, following a 7% rise in the first quarter, has done nothing to help alleviate this substantial backlog.

As well as those directly involved in family proceedings, the crisis has also attracted the attention of the Lord Chancellor, who is apparently now drawing up plans to impose penalties on parents deemed to be ‘clogging up’

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll